A service request is a request, submitted by a user, for goods, services, or changes thereof. The service request may be a request for information, advice, a change, or for access. As an example, a service request may be a request for information or services related to computer software. A user may submit a service request for assistance managing the user's bank account on a website. A service request may be a request to receive or repair hardware. As an example, a user may submit a service request for the air conditioning in the user's office to be repaired. A service request may or may not include detailed information describing a problem to be solved and/or a service to be performed.
Commonly, a customer service agent handles a service request. A customer service agent may be trained to handle a specific type of service request. It is increasingly common for one customer service agent to handles various different types of service requests with the help of on-line tools. The customer service agent may search numerous systems to find the correct on-line tools that are appropriate for a particular kind of service request.
The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.